Parents also need to be prepared for school

Back to school – that post Labour Day ritual of waking kids early after a summer of silliness – starts Tuesday.

Across the province, kids are gearing up for a return to the classroom or a new adventure in kindergarten.

As someone who’s seen the good, the bad and the ugly of the entire school system through my two sons, I offer a few tips to help those new to the system through the blackboard jungle.

Be wary: When children are in elementary school, they have no idea what is normal and what’s not. You’ll only find out what goofiness happened in the classroom many years later.

(Apropos above) Never allow your child to have the same teacher two years in a row. I did – and my son had the same home room teacher for three years. I only found out later that she kept asking for him back because he sat quietly and read a book in the back of the classroom most days.

What you gain on the kindergarten swings … You lose on the Grade 13 roundabout.

Yes, we now have all-day kindergarten, at a staggering $1.5 billion cost for what amounts to free babysitting.

But we lost Grade 13.

I know this province was the only jurisdiction in North America to have Grade 13. But it was a good program and we should not have surrendered it.

Most kids coming out of Grade 12 are too young and unprepared for university – which is why so many of them do the so-called “Victory Lap.”

One way to compensate for the loss of Grade 13 might be to have kids go to high school earlier – in Grade 8.

At that age, kids are too old for elementary school. They shouldn’t be sharing a playground with kids of four and five.

The’re mature enough and more than ready to take on the rigours of high school.

Never put your child in a classroom where parent volunteers are permitted. There’s a place for parents to volunteer in schools – on school trips, at lunch time and so on. In the classroom they’re untrained, nosey busybodies. Only adults with teacher training should be in the classroom.

Avoid at all costs semestered high schools. It’s often difficult for youngsters to grasp difficult concepts in math and science in the three or four months of a semester. If they’re having problems, there’s very little time to turn things around.

Do not judge a school by its EQAO results. I know it’s fashionable to buy real estate in school districts that score well on EQAO testing. Just remember that a vital component of any school is its students – that means your kids.

My two sons went to schools both in upscale areas and in areas considered inner city.

How your child does in school depends on the classroom teacher, the principal, your child – and you.

A school can have the best reputation in town, a state of the art playground, an over-stocked library and a gym that would put Goodlife to shame. If the classroom teacher is a dud, your child won’t flourish.

Affluent schools often become complacent when their well-heeled students routinely perform well in testing.

Teachers in schools where youngsters face challenges often work much harder to ensure students make the grade.

If the teacher isn’t backed up by the principal, the school will be chaotic. And if you don’t encourage your child to show up to school every morning ready to learn, he or she will not do well.

My sons were inspired by some of the dedicated teachers they had in schools that were considered inner city. They still talk about them.

Do not let the school board label your child with their own psychological or other testing. If he or she is having difficulties, get private testing. There’s nothing the school board likes better than to label a child as having difficulties in order to justify why they’re struggling.

Instead of testing a child and then tailoring the child’s schooling to their needs, schools have a habit of testing kids, then throwing their hands in the air and saying it’s all the kid’s/parents’ fault that the child isn’t flourishing.

Remember the saying, “Question authority before it questions you?”

The same applies to the school system. Don’t go along with everything the school recommends for your child without thoroughly understanding why they’re doing it.

Now … start packing those lunches.

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